I am a Tombstone Tourist: someone who loves to wander cemeteries. I find it akin to visiting a museum: an opportunity to enjoy rarely seen sculpture, intricate carvings, and amazing architecture, all in a tranquil outdoor setting. This blog is about cemetery culture, art, history, issues of death, and genealogy - subjects of current relevance. I usually find something that intrigues me and makes me want to dig deeper. Care to join me? Read on...

Friday, October 5, 2012

Resurrection Mary and Resurrection Cemetery in Chicago

Once
again, the month of October is upon us…. a time for hauntings, Halloween - and
all things spooky.This month, A
Grave Interest will take a look at several haunted cemeteries.Get ready as we explore some ‘lively’
places, and the people who make them so…….

Resurrection
Cemetery, on the outskirts of Chicago, is a comfortable cemetery – during the
day.But at night it’s rumored
that a young girl still roams the area in search of dancing partners and the
life she once lived…

Resurrection
Mary is one of the most popular ghosts in the U.S.The story is based on a legend about a local girl who had
gone dancing with her boyfriend at the Oh Henry Ballroom during early 1930’s.During the evening the couple had an
argument and Mary decided to walk home; she was struck and killed by a vehicle
while walking on Archer Avenue.The driver fled the scene and was never found.Mary was buried in Resurrection Cemetery, near the ballroom.

Jerry Palus

A Night of Dancing

Sightings
of Mary began in the late 1930’s and continue to this day.The first reported occurrence happened
in 1939 to Jerry Palus.Palus
claimed that he met the blond haired, blue-eyed girl at the Liberty Grove and
Hall.They danced throughout the
evening and he offered to give her a ride home.After giving him her address, she remained quiet.During the ride home, Mary disappeared
from the car in front of the cemetery. Palus said he went to the address Mary
had given him and spoke with her parents who told him that Mary had been dead
for several years. And so the legend began…

Resurrection Cemetery Gates

Over
two dozen people have reported picking Mary up as she walked along Archer
Avenue on dark, cold nights.Most
drivers report that she is dressed as if she has come from an evening of
dancing, in a white dress from years ago.Mary usually disappears from the car as it passes the
cemetery, or asks to be let out at the front of the gates where she disappears
inside.

Anna Norkus

Marie Bregovy

So
who was Resurrection Mary?It’s
not really known.Conjecture is
that she may be Mary (Marie) Bregovy who died in an auto accident on Wacker
Drive in 1934.Other reports claim
she is Anna Norkus who died in a car accident while returning home from the Oh
Henry Ballroom in 1927. Or, Mary may be nothing more than an urban legend, a
romantic story about the Windy City’s most famous vanishing hitchhiker
ghost.But over two dozen
eyewitnesses have described the same girl, doing the same thing, decade after
decade…

Bent Bars on the Gate

In
1976, police responded to a call about a young woman being locked in the cemetery.When they arrived, no one was found
inside, but an officer did discover that the bars to the front gate had been
bent, with handprints burned into the metal.Cemetery officials said the gate was damaged by a truck and
had it replaced to stop curiosity seekers from coming out at night.

Blackmore's Night

Ian Hunter

Several
songs have been written about Resurrection Mary, including Laurie (Strange
Things Happen) by Dickie Lee in
1965, Resurrection Mary by Ian
Hunter in 1996, and I Guess It Doesn’t Matter Anymore by Blackmore’s Night in 2006.

Willowbrook Ballroom

Willowbrook Book

The
Oh Henry Ballroom is still there on Archer Avenue.Named after the Oh Henry candy bar, the ballroom opened in
1921.It now goes by the
name the Willowbrook Ballroom.There is also a Willowbrook Ballroom book; maybe you’ll catch a glimpse
of Mary in an old photo, dancing the night away…..

The
woman I spoke with at the main desk was not helpful.When I asked for a map and information on cemetery and its
most famous interments, (I made no mention of Resurrection Mary,) she would
give me neither.Luckily, I had already
researched the cemetery and knew what gems were there – hundreds of gorgeous
statues, an outdoor garden crypt with 5,000 vaults, and the Resurrection
Mausoleum, an architectural marvel with stained glass window walls.

Statue of Michael

View of the cemetery

Resurrection
Cemetery began in 1904 as a Polish Catholic Cemetery.Today, it serves all members of the Catholic faith with over
150,000 interments.The cemetery
is located at 7201 Archer Avenue in Justice, Illinois. It is open Monday –
Friday from 8:30 A.M. to 4 P.M. and Saturdays from 9 A.M. to 1 P.M.

Regardless
of who she was, the legend of Resurrection Mary continues to haunt Archer
Avenue and Resurrection Cemetery.It just goes to show; you never know whom you’ll pick up along a
deserted stretch of roadway on a cold, dark night….

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